In the opening round of the battle, Boris were seen off by Williamsbach’s deployment of the vicious Roy Buchanan – Roy’s Blues (live ’76) solo into the open battlefield. Roy’s protection of Williamsbach as King Of The Castle Of The Axe was brief and bloody – a sophisticated attack from Mnemosene caused a mortal wound via the use of a non-battle tested Ry Cooder “At the Dark End of the Street” (1977 Live). The solo begins in the video above at 2″56′ and is the one to beat in round three.
Mnemosene is now Queen Of The Castle Of The Axe – and the challenge is to dislodge the reigning champion by inventive and awesome guitar skills!
Even war has rules:
1. One entry each
2. Please note when the solo you want to highlight kicks in (minutes and seconds, plz)
3. Each of you has one vote each, for either your favourite challenger posted or for the reigning champion, so wait til there’s a good lot of contenders and then cast your vote. You can’t vote for your own submission.
4. A submission cannot have been used in previous rounds
HAVE AT YE!!!
The lead guitar starts straight away, and punctuates the 1992 Manic Street Preachers classic with a sadness and a beauty.
Well you can’t say it isn’t solo:
Phillip Roebuck – Monkey Fist
I got strangely hypnotised by his legs during that. Um, thanks Shoey!!
Can I say ‘It isn’t a guitar’?
If you want (have you been taking trite lessons from Tin?)
Are he and Prince Charles teaching people how to fish?
I remember seeing that Ry Cooder session when it was first broadcast on the OGWT.
Anyway, I think it is now time to unleash Stevie Ray Vaughan and Lenny
Very impressive, inventive noodling there, Carole. By keeping the cliches under control, that stayed the right side of wankery.
I realise my attempts to make you all fall in love with Jerry Garcia‘s playing are not being terribly successful but I suppose I don’t really think of him as a soloist either…
See if it works for anyone with this 1971 performance of Not Fade Away/Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad. It’s the whole combination that makes it work for me but Jerry does play some mighty fine licks. And the video is quite interesting.
Well, my vote is obviously going for Captain Trips.
I can’t vote for SRV, so it’s Jerry Garcia all the way.
I must have listened to this a hundred times and I still marvel at the way Jerry steers the ship between the songs. A solo with true purpose. And an excellent crew on board.
I vote for Jerry too!
Watch out everyone….heeeeere’s Luther!
Cherry Red Wine by Luther Allison
From 5.54. There’s also a great solo from Luther’s mate James Solberg. I’m considering this for my next TP request – it’s between this and Gratefully Dead at the moment.
Bob Quine skronks his way through several short bursts in this little number 1.28 is the most solo-y.
I’ve always liked this one!
I haven’t seen Lambre post this one yet so i will. It’s basically all solo -
Funkadelic – Maggot Brain (Live)
Ooooh – that has my vote, so far!
X marks the spot
Well, if it’s sophisticated you’re after…
My guitar solo flips its hair at your guitar solo. And the best part is…he’s SIMULTANEOUSLY playing the guitar solo and the superrockin keyboard solo. Yeah! Man!
Oh, about 2 minutes and 18 seconds in.
…which Eddie claims as his favorite guitar solo he never wrote. .. the producer spliced parts of two different takes to create the one heard in the song…
this would get my vote, but the synth soloing trumps it, in the same song!
…the synth solo that Eddie Van Halen admits he ripped off wholesale from Hall & Oates’ “Kiss On My List”…
(yes, I am reading wikipedia
)
AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
AntidondsAntidondsAntidonds!!!
*pours hot wax into ears before it gets in AGAIN as a worm for the second time in a month*
Duh Dih Duh Duh Dup Der Der…
Get in there with a solo on a Sunburst Flyte
Nick Saloman – The Bevis Frond – wigs out from the 2.50 mark
First new album in 7 years on its way in September
YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
I really enjoyed that one!
YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
And it’s an original Burns Flyte!! . . . . as played by Marc Bolan, in the fat years . . . . , am I adding to its appeal? One of the top songs on my ‘gym’ playlist . . . “everbody’s getting in shape . . . lifting, pumping” . . .
It has to be this. The relevant bit kicks in at 57 seconds.
You’re right, of course, Mnemosene. One of the finest pieces of performance art ever created.
I suspect we were only ever looking for a runner-up in this ‘battle’….
Kit payed attention to this one, and was smiling and laughing at it. Then I realised that Hector was licking his fingers.
OK, Chris, you asked for it! You want originality? Colour? An ability to take an existing piece somewhere it hasn’t been before?
Here’s Living Colour’s Vernon Reid letting rip on Pere Ubu’s Final Solution:
Technically, the solo doesn’t start until two-thirds of the way through, but ol’ Vern’s at it immediately his part starts at half-a-minute in. You get another 30seconds from the two minute mark, and then from 3m17s, it’s all his.
Stick THAT in Jerry’s pipe and smoke it!!
Goodnight all.
I almost suggester the original track this week !
As with so many ‘axe-men’, DsD, this guy is technically excellent. The speed and tone control is hugely impressive. But the bottom line is that this kind of thing just does not float my boat. I like the atonal nature of what he’s producing but I have heard it done before to better effect with some more variety in the pacing (I Heard Her Call My Name, as an early example).
Jerry got into the how-many-notes-can-I-fit-in-here game on occasion and I didn’t find that did overly attractive. It can all get a bit aimless. For example (from 2:50 and from 4:40):
Thanks for the reply, Chris. Gotta go out right now, so haven’t listened to S&D yet, but I was in two minds as to whether to post Vernon Reid’s atonal race around the fretboard, or go for the more leisurely-paced, warm, but yes, predictable blues linked to below (one of my old ‘Spill posts). If you get a spare ten mins, see what you think.
http://readersrecommend.blogspot.com/2009/10/solo-its-off-radar-and-disappeared.html
Yes, DsD, I find that Jumpin’ The Gunn track a lot more palatable. Some lovely, lyrical playing and, for a kid, shamefully impressive. A well-trodden path, sure, but one lovingly tended.
Unfashionable old rockers seem to be proliferating in this competition, so here’s another! Dave Edmunds is a reasonably economical soloist as you can see from 1:27 onwards on this nice big band arrangement with Steve Cropper on rhythm guitar.
The timing appears right to unleash Ana Popovic upon the ‘Spill. A child prodigy blues guitarist from Serbia, she became bored and went off to study jazz guitar. She returned to ‘white’ blues, but infused with jazz and traditional European and North African folk influences. The result is IMHO the best blues guitarist of our era.
This clip is a tribute she wrote to her main inspirations, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Ronnie Earl, laced with jazz and flamenco and Lord knows what all. Jump to 5:00 if you want.
A fine talent, to be sure. I can live without the rawk stuff (see previous comments…) but the jazzy playing is gorgeous. Nice bit of unleashing there, tin.
Very nice indeed!
Not bad, but christ Tinny! She’s only a kid.. but I like “she became bored and went off to study jazz guitar..”, so in that spirit I feel this thread needs some senseless fusion noodling.
I’m starting the bidding relatively low here; Al Di Meola on Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant. (Sorry Al!)
Hopefully accessible as part of this NPR five-for..
the solo in question runs from about 2.00min until 3.20… for my tastes a very clean tone, some sparkling arpeggios, and just enough variation in attack to build a satisfying crescendo.
http://www.npr.org/2009/02/02/100139355/fusion-is-not-a-four-letter-word
Pretty cool stuff there Nilpo
Cheers tin.. don’t forget.. fusion is a..
*counts on fingers*
er-
*counts big toe*
…six letter word
Keen to listen to Al, I clicked on your link, nilpferd. Which didn’t take me to him. Do you have any other directions?
Sorry Chris, I neglected to give the band name.. Al was playing in the later version of Return to forever, on their final album Romantic Warrior.
Here’s the Duel of the Jester.. on Spotify.
http://open.spotify.com/track/65y64lw0QPgrJ4OferccKh
Very much of its time, and I know Abahachi for one considers this band’s groove sterile and rigid, but I find a lot to like in the clarity, the soundscapes, and the energy.
Ta: found it. It’s impossible to deny that the technical ability of jazz musicians is generally far above that of those found in ‘rock’. But they do also tend to fall into the trap of sounding a little sterile and super-fast guitarists (of whichever genre) also often appear to be showing off.
This grabs my head but not my heart. But that’s probably better than the innumerable rock wig-outs that are trying to grab my b*lls and leave my head well alone.
Cheers Chris. I hear what you’re saying, though I do have a soft spot for Chick’s melodies, especially on the title track The Romantic Warrior (some nice acoustic guitar on that too, though also of the lightning fast kind) Depending on how many instalments Blimpy’s planning on running I may throw in a few other jazz guitarists in an attempt to reach your heart too. (I’ll leave your b*lls well alone though)
Just wow.
Thanks for writing such an easy-to-uedrnstand article on this topic.
Absolute classic, Ten Years After and “I Woke Up This Morning” – solo starts at 1.59:
One of my favourite guitar breaks ever happens on this track. The band was The Big Three and the lead guitarist was Adrian Barber. The break comes in at 1.31.
They were one of the few Liverpool bands of the 60s I quite liked. I’m sorry about the video with a picture of a hair dryer on it.
Short, sweet & perfectly formed…